A Thank You for a Thank You
by ZareEraz
Summary: Fem!Watanuki/Doumeki drabble. Oneshot. Watanuki wants to find some way to thank Doumeki (because the guilt is eating at her, not because she likes him, thank you very much!) but is having a hard time actually doing it!


A/N: This is a genderbend with Watanuki as a girl instead of a boy. Drabble! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own CLAMP, they own me.

A Thank You for a Thank You

Kimihiro Watanuki stood outside Doumeki's temple debating with herself. The girl didn't even know what she was doing here this late. She chewed her thumb nail and wriggled around doing what Yuko and Mokona called "weird movements" while she clutched her bento box close to her body. It was eleven o'clock at night and she was standing out in the chilly end-of-summer air in a skirt and short sleeved shirt and wishing that she'd brought a jacket if she was going to argue with herself outside of her rival's temple. The whole courtyard was dark, the wind whistling through the cherry trees, their leaves swishing quietly. _What am I doing? This is crazy! It's late and he's probably asleep and I don't even know why I'm doing this! _Watanuki took a step backwards, ready to head back to her home and just give Doumeki the bento box tomorrow with lunch. Then she talked herself into taking a step forward. _He did save me today, so I should give him this! But what if he's asleep? Or what if he doesn't want to see me and I'm just being a pest. Wait, anytime Doumeki sees me is a great time! I mean, after all, I'm better than him! _

Watanuki tiptoed into the temple's courtyard, dashing behind trees to hide herself like a ninja. She didn't want to wake anyone up just in case she decided to leave. A night bird called as the seer dashed behind another tree, stifling a yelp and listening to see if someone had disturbed the bird. It called again and flew off into the night. She sighed in relief. The girl quietly made her way to the steps of the temple where she knew Doumeki's room was and stopped. Her foot hung suspended over the first stair step as her internal debate on whether or not to wake her rival up started again. _This can wait for tomorrow, can't it? No, it can't. Yes it can! _The seer sighed in frustration, quietly of course. The whole reason Watanuki was even at the temple was because Doumeki did what Doumeki did best today: he saved her from a spirit and what had she done? Yelled at him and bottled up her gratitude and hid it behind annoyance. The guilt had eaten at her all day that late in the evening she just couldn't sit around her apartment any longer and made Doumeki a treat, just to make herself feel better about the way she'd treated him. But now that she was here, the girl was terrified of actually delivering her gift. She took a step and a twig snapped somewhere in the courtyard and Watanuki clapped her hands over her mouth to silence her scream. She ran under the temple steps and shivered on the cold ground. A cat meowed and stalked across the courtyard, batting the stick it was interested in. _I'm going to go crazy if I keep this up, _she sighed. _Just get it over with! No, but what is he really is asleep? Won't I just bother him then, even if I have food? _The seer looked down at the bento box she hugged to her body and forced herself to remember the afternoon's traumatic events that led to this whole situation.

_Watanuki was being chased by a spirit after school. Again. This time it wasn't just a gelatinous mass of eyes and mouths, but actually looked like an octopus, wiggly arms and all. On the other hand, it was acting exactly like the other spirits she'd encountered: saliva dripping from a gigantic mouth filled with sharp teeth, its eight arms trying to grab the girl as she ran down the street. The tentacles were line with some sort of claw or blade because every time one of them nicked the seer, they drew blood. Today's encounter would either end up with Watanuki for dinner or she'd be the star in an impromptu tentacle porn. She'd rather get eaten. _

_ "Get away from me!" The girl yelled as she ran down the street. "Why do I always attract the perverted ones?" She jumped, dodging the tentacles that were trying to grab her ankles and butt. "HANDS OFF!" She screamed, starting and scarring bystanders that she was wizzing past. The octopus responded by taking another swipe at her but, which the seer dodged. She swerved, ducked and evaded all eight tentacles, and had been doing it for twenty minutes. She was tired and her stamina was running out. Doumeki would've just made fun of her for lagging, but even he would've been exhausted after running so much. Maybe. That guy is just a jerk, even when he's not here! She fumed as she ran, juggling the day's bento boxes and her school bag as she baseball slid to duck an arm. "Go away!" I just have to get to Yuko's place and then everything will be fine, she told herself, turning onto a deserted stree, chest heaving as she swerved away from another tentacle. The spirit was gaining on her and the girl had very little energy left. Digging deep inside herself, the girl prepared to make one last sprint to the barrier of the shop when a tentacle wrapped around her forearm, snapping her body away from its forward motion painfully. _

_ "OW!" She screamed, dropping her bag and bento boxes on the cement. And then another tentacle was snaking its way up her leg, another coiling around her waist, another around her chest, and all of them squeezing. She was really struggling to breathe now that slimly octopus arms were entangling themselves around her body, cutting open her skin with their sharp blades. The one going up her leg passed over her knee and up her thigh and the girl clamped her legs together as it snaked up her skirt. She squeezed hard until the octopus squealed and retracted that tentacle in pain. "That's what you get for indecent behavior!" Watanuki yelled at it, smacking away other arms as best she could being wrapped up like a sausage. The spirit was just playing with her though and wrapped the remaining tentacles around her wrists and ankles to still its prey. That is, until Watanuki bit one of the appendages and made it angry. _

_ The spirit screamed in rage and waved the girl around like a rag doll, whipping her neck back and forth and then hung the girl above its salivating mouth. Watanuki said her last prayer as she waited above that mouth, contemplating death for real this time as the spirit gnashed it fang riddled maw at her. Yuko's going to have to find another slave to boss around, she though as she was lowered into the stinky, smoke spewing mouth. I feel bad for the poor sucker, were going to be her last thoughts, but then a streak of light flashed past her. The octopus spirit shrieked in pain, ripping the girl from its mouth and tossing her into the air. Watanuki sailed a good twenty feet before crashing to the ground hard. She gasped in pain, scraped up, bleeding and generally immobile. It was a miracle that her glasses hadn't shattered. Whatever caused the monster to throw her wasn't slowing it down for long. Even spewing golden light that was eating away at its body, the octopus was still fast. And it was pissed, its beady eyes trained on its lost prey struggling to breathe again on the ground. _

_Watanuki glanced up and saw the spirit coming for her. She tried to move out of the way, but her aching body was to slow to move very fast, crawling at a snail's pace. A tentacle shot out to grab her again and the seer ducked and closed her eyes, trying to be as small as possible. Then she heard the impact, but it wasn't against her. The girl's head shot up, a body blocking her view of the spirit. It was Doumeki. He'd taken the hit, the tentacle slicing up his arm, but he didn't make a sound. He just lined up his bow for another shot, aiming his golden arrow right at the monster's head before calmly releasing the bow string. The whiz of the arrow was clear above all other sounds as it thunked against the spirit and it wailed in misery as it disintegrated in a pool of light. _

_Doumeki tucked his bow under his arm before turning to Watanuki with that stone face of his and holding out his hand to help her up. Watanuki may have been grateful to him for saving her, but she wasn't about to take his hand. The girl painfully got up and brushed off her clothes along with her bruises and scrapes before yelling at Doumeki for being stupid and getting in her way…again. The girl yelled his ear off while gathering up her things, but the archer just clapped his hands over his ears and he followed her to Yuko's shop. _

_Once in the shop, Yuko scolded her for being late and made the girl bandage up Doumeki's arm before attending to her own wounds and getting to work. The archer left soon after that but Watanuki was up to her ears in work and she still couldn't breathe properly! _

Now she was shivering under the temple's steps, trying to convince herself just to go say "thank you" and get it over with. The girl crawled out from under the steps and straightened her aching body slowly. A breeze rushed through her hair, messing up her already messy pony tail. She walked up two steps and decided that she'd just wait tomorrow, then took another step and forced herself to hurry up and do it. Standing on Doumeki's porch, Watanuki lifted her hand to knock on the wood paneling of the sliding doors. She was an inch away from doing it when she yanked back her hand to her chest and bit her lip. _He's going to think I'm stupid, or weird. _The girl shook her head and reached out slowly to knock. _It doesn't matter, you're handing him food and then leaving! So just do it! _Her trembling fist barely tapped the door when it flew open. Watanuki yelped and recoiled, nearly tumbling backwards down the steps when a hand shot out and grabbed her bandaged wrists. Doumeki looked at the girl with his expressionless face and she blew up at him.

"What the hell was that?!" Watanuki yelled.

"You knocked, so I opened the door." He replied. The seer regained her balance before glaring at the yukata-clad archer. He was wearing the garment with one sleeve off, the injured arm unhindered by cloth.

"It takes at least a few seconds for the door to be opened, not half of one!" She ripped her wrist out of his grip and rubbed it soothingly. She noticed that Doumeki's arm wasn't in a sling this time, but his bandages went all the way down from the shoulder to his wrist. _Good, I'd never live this down if he couldn't go to archery practice. _

"You've been out here for twenty minutes stalling, so I didn't want to wait any longer." He said.

"You were watching me?!" The arched clapped his hands over her ears as Watanuki's voice went up two octaves. "Why didn't you way something?"

"Because it was funny."

"I am not funny! This is serious!" The seer was irritated now. She came here to say thanks and this is how the dolt treated her.

"So what did you want?" Doumeki was so forward that it zapped all the anger right out of the girl as she was reminded that she came to thank the archer, not yell at him in the middle of the night. She shoved the wrapped bento box into the boy's uninjured arm and blushed deeply. She hung her head down and struggled to spit out the words she'd been meaning to say all day.

"T-that's f-for today. I just wanted to say th-th-th-ank y-y…" She gulped, thankful that the shadows hid her face even more that her hair did. She clasped and re-clasped her hands in an effort to calm herself. Squeezing her eyes shut she continued. "Th-thank y-you." She opened her eyes to find his face staring up at her. "Gah!" She flailed back and nearly tumbled down the steps again. "What was that for?!"

"I wanted to see your expression as you said it. You don't say 'thank you' very often."

"You weirdo! See if I do anything nice for you every again!" Watanuki turned her back on him and crossed her arms angrily, but mostly she was just embarrassed. "It's wagashi, by the way." Silence ensued.

"Tea?"

"What do I look like? A waiter!?" Doumeki plugged one of his ears as the seer gave him an earful. "Fine!" She said a while later when her tongue couldn't come up with anymore insults. "I'll go make tea!" She stomped off to the kitchen with a comment from Doumeki that she knew his kitchen better than he did. "That's because you're always forcing me to make you stuff!" A while later she came back with a thermos of tea and two cups on a tray, but instead of eating the wagashi on the porch, Doumeki tilted his head towards the backyard. Watanuki nervously walked behind Doumeki as they went along the path that led to the pond Haruka had maintained.

The water was breath taking at this time of night, the moon shining down on the rippleing waves and the plant life waving contently. Doumeki sat down on a large rock with the bento on his lap and Watanuki took a seat with him. She balanced the tea tray on her knees and unwrapped the bento for the archer before pouring them tea. He already had three of the sweets in his mouth before she was finished.

"Can't you even wait for the tea you requested?!" She sighed irritably, her dessert artwork clearly not as appreciated astectically as much as it should be. _Seriously, those flowers to hours to make!_ Doumeki looked at her and kept on chewing, holding out his hand for the cup. "Bastard." She handed him the cup anyway and two seconds later it was shoved back in her face. "Seriously?" Doumeki nodded his head once. Watanuki shook hers and poured him another cup. Then there was another thing shoved in her face, but it wasn't a tea cup. It was a pink flower wagashi that looked like a cherry blossom. "What? Do you want me to bless it or something?" _That's rich coming from a girl who attracts bad luck and spirits! _

"No. Eat it." Doumeki gave her his blank version of an are-you-an-idiot face.

"But it's your treat." She insisted.

"I can't eat all of this. You made too much." _No I didn't! Is he just being nice? He polishes off his lunch and half of mine every day! This much wagashi shouldn't be a problem for him. _

"Liar." Watanuki replied, but took the flower gently in her hands anyway. She ate it slowly, savoring the taste of the bean paste and then drinking a cup of tea. Doumeki ate five more wagashi while the seer was busy with her one, but he handed her another and they continued to share the sweets until they were all gone. The last cup of tea was empty and the two just sat in silence, the bento box in between them and Watanuki was getting nervous again. It had to be past midnight by this point, but Doumeki wasn't saying anything about going to sleep and just sat on the rock staring at the moon. The girl twisted the material of her skirt and stood up quickly, not knowing how to handle the situation. Usually when she was alone with Doumeki she was pissed at him or they were on an assignment and needed to be serious, but she wasn't mad and they didn't have anything to do so the girl was floundering a bit.

"Well, t-thanks again for saving me. I'll just be going now." She gathered up the bento box and the tea tray to take back to the kitchen when a hand on hers stopped the seer from picking up the dishes. She looked up and Doumeki was looking at her intently, his dark eyes watching her mismatched ones. "What?" She whispered. He leaned in, getting closer and closer, his injured hand reaching up to cup her cheek before his lips softly touched her. Watanuki's eyes widened and her face went up in smoke but she didn't move. She just barely kissed him back and he moved away. "Wha-wha-what was that for?" She breathed almost inaudibly when Doumeki was a safe distance away. Her heart was beating like crazy and she knew that she should be biting his ear off for kissing her but the look in his eyes told her he wasn't teasing.

"A thank you for a thank you." He replied softly, stoking her cheek. He was being completely serious and Watanuki just realized some of the reasons he was constantly by her side. _He really likes me, doesn't he? That would explain so much about his behavior, and so little at the same time. _

"Now that's ridiculous." She sighed, picking up the tray once her heart was behaving. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it'd be, getting kissed by Doumeki.

"No, you are." Watanuki gaped at him, seeing a miniscule smile gracing his otherwise stone face.

"Bastard." She hissed as she turned towards the house, her back to him.

"Idiot." She grunted in reply and walked away, bottling up her feelings again. In the kitchen though, Watanuki allowed herself to smile as she washed the dishes, touching her fingertips to her lips every once in a while to remind herself that the kiss had happened. _He'll act like an asshole tomorrow, but I can use this to my advantage, _she mused. _You won't always have the last word now that I know what you really like! _Watanuki hummed happily in the kitchen, making plans to make Doumeki wriggle for her as she plotted to exploit the kiss for all it was worth. Meanwhile, Doumeki was making plans of his own: a list of all the things he wanted to eat tomorrow and figuring out the perfect place to kiss Watanuki in front of the entire school. She'd never live down the embarrassment and would be cursing his name for weeks, but it would be worth it to let everyone know just who the girl belonged to. He smiled softly again as he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen, hidden by shadows and watched Watanuki hum happily while she did the dishes. _She's going to make someone a good wife someday. _Doumeki pictured her in a frilly pink apron, cooking at the oven and giggled. She wasn't much different at this point. The seer heard him laugh and threw a spatula at him in irritation.


End file.
